Two Wings of One Bird

In today's classes there was some discussion about the difficulties in being shite and focusing on "shite stuff" and then being uke and focusing on the "uke stuff".

The main point of the discussion was that it is easy to get trapped into thinking of a technique from one point of view or the other (shite or uke) rather than as a holistic union of the two. Some people indicated that they didn't care what their partner was doing when they were focused on "their" part of the technique.

I have always maintained that the most dangerous person to practice with is someone around the rank of 3rd kyu because (in general) their technique works but they don't have the experience to feel the feedback from uke which can end up injuring uke. I think this is because they are still keeping the "shite stuff" and the "uke stuff" separate.

Keeping them separate is similar to the phenomenon of drivers vs. pedestrians. When you are a driver you get annoyed with pedestrians but when you are walking you get frustrated with drivers who get in your way.

A more holistic view would be to try to feel what uke feels when you are shite and as uke to try and feel what shite feels while applying the technique to you. If you can manage to imagine and feel the other person's response to your movement or resistance (as the case may be) then you should more easily understand the whole of the technique rather than just half of it at a time.

One other benefit is that you will more quickly understand when your uke is in danger and might be about to be injured if you think of what they are feeling at the same time as you are thinking of "your side".

I believe that working on a technique as two halves is far less than working on the technique as a whole. The gestalt of the two halves is definitely greater than the sum of the two parts.

Something for me to remember when I get lost in the minute details of a technique.